Reducing or even eliminating Red eye

[Zamora3]

Right now I have a Dreb and a Mecablitz 54 AF-1 C (soon to be 20D and 580/550 EX). I shoot a lot of indoor sproting events and I get some really good pictures. Except in most of them, the players have really bad red eye. I try and fix them up in post processign but that does not look very natural. Do you guys have any tips to get rid of red-eye with the flash with out any post processing? Thanks in advance.

[iof]

Increasing the distance between the lens and the flash with a flash bracket should help some. Where it's possible(at most sporting events it's not), bounce flash. And then get better with post processing skills. Good luck.

Ron

[Tom W]

I have to assume that the problem exists mostly with the longer lenses. The cause of redeye is the flash reflecting off the back surface of the eye. The reflection is caught in the image. The smaller the angle between the lens and the flash, the more likely that redeye will occur.

The best way to prevent it is to get the flash up higher away from the lens so that the reflection cannot be seen by the lens. Use an off-shoe cord and a bracket (a little expensive), or get a lumiquest bouncer setup (pretty inexpensive) so that your flash's output hits the subject from higher above the lens.

[Zamora3]

is this the kind of off shoe cord ?? http://www.wolfcamera.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=31577&location=GGSPRD&storeId=10101&processRequest=10002&prp=541163317&langId=-1&catalogId=10001

How would that work, the cord doesnt seem stable, the cord looks really flexible and not sturdy at all. Is that where the bracket would come in? Can u post a link where I could find a bracket?

[Tom W]

is this the kind of off shoe cord ?? http://www.wolfcamera.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=31577&location=GGSPRD&storeId=10101&processRequest=10002&prp=541163317&langId=-1&catalogId=10001

How would that work, the cord doesnt seem stable, the cord looks really flexible and not sturdy at all. Is that where the bracket would come in? Can u post a link where I could find a bracket?

The cord won't hold the flash up - you'll have to do that either with your other hand, or with a bracket of some sort.

You should be able to find a bracket at B&H ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=653 ),
Adorama ( http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=itemlist&cat1=Flash/Lighting&cat2=Flash%20Accessories&cat3=Camera%20Brackets ), or any other reputable dealer. There's several brands of them. Some of the folks here that shoot a good deal of flash could probably help you out more.

I have this one ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=278249&is=REG ), though I don't use it much.

[Zamora3]

That looks like it could really make the camera very hard to control. Is that the only way to get rid of red eye. Is there a flash out there with red-eye reduction?

[Tom W]

No, I don't think any external flashes have it (though I could be wrong). Here's another option:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=86719&is=REG

Something like this will allow you to bounce your flash off the reflector above where your flash is mounted, provided your flash has the ability to tilt upward. I have a Lumiquest kit that I find very useful when I can't bounce flash off a ceiling (high ceilings are not good for bounce). It diffuses the light a bit too, so that the flash appears a little less harsh.

[Zamora3]

Thats all I need, a little bit of flash to fill in the lost details. Do u have any idea with bounce flash set up, how far will it reach?

[Tom W]

Reach is less with the bounce apparatus - I'm not sure how much less, since I haven't used it long-range.

Here's what the shoe cord and bracket look like set up on my Elan. The bracket attaches to the tripod mount, and provides a left-hand grip:

http://www.pbase.com/photosbytom/image/38929902.jpg

[Volatile]

I'm finding that as I improve in my picture taking ability, I get less and less redeye, but here's what I do to post-process it out: (in Photoshop)

Zoom way in on the eye.
Use the lasso tool to circle the red part
Go to Hue/Saturation, selest Reds, and desaturate, also take lightness all the way down
If it's really bad, you may need to do the same for Magentas

It leaves a very natural result, preserving 'catchlight' in the eye and everything

HTH!

[Zamora3]

so what is more effective at reducing red-eye, the bounce flash, or the flash w/ off-shoe cord and bracket? Is it guranteed that the bounce flash will eliminate red eye?

[lomond]

so what is more effective at reducing red-eye, the bounce flash, or the flash w/ off-shoe cord and bracket? Is it guranteed that the bounce flash will eliminate red eye?

I would say the former since you can't always bounce the flash. For example if the ceiling is yellow there will be a yellow cast.
However I find volatiles method works very well and costs nothing.

[Zamora3]

Here is a few examples of the kind of red-eye that I get in my pictures. I dont know if this is "normal" red-eye, becasue most pictures I see on the internet with red eye, have red eye only in the middle of the eye but my pics cover pretty much the entire black part of they eye. Can you try and fix these, Ive tried but when I print them out, they don't look to well. I loose a lot of good pictures due to nasty red eye. Thanks again.

http://img170.exs.cx/img170/6128/redex15tg.jpg
http://img170.exs.cx/img170/691/redex27fg.jpg

[Hogleg 44]

so what is more effective at reducing red-eye, the bounce flash, or the flash w/ off-shoe cord and bracket? Is it guranteed that the bounce flash will eliminate red eye?
I have been using a Custom Brackets flash bracket for about a year now and I am yet to see even a trace of red eye. And that is mostly taking children's pictures from all distances.
One very nice thing about this Custom Bracket is that It allows you to quickly and easily rotate the camera from landscape to portrait and the flash unit still remains above the lens. And too, the bracket has a left hand grip and an optional grip strap.

[flyfisher]

I have used this bracket for many weddinga and leagues and hav never had any red eye
problems .The bracket is from Bachrach and it copst me $39.00

[cecilc]

Here is a few examples of the kind of red-eye that I get in my pictures.

It looks to me like you've just got TOO much flash in those shots ..... there's very little (or none) ambient light in those shots - no lighting in the background.

You might try powering down your flash and see if that helps the red-eye problem.

http://www.awesomehouse.com/images/girlsbball.jpg

http://www.awesomehouse.com/images/walton1.jpg

Both of the above were taken with a 550EX powered down to 1/64 power (I think that's what I had it on). I get very little to no red-eye in any shot I take for basketball because my flash is not the main source of light for the shot.

Hope that helps a little ....